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Business and finance

20 Mar 17

Prague fined over changes to bridge project

The Czech capital Prague has been fined US$420,000 over the Troja Bridge project, where changes in the procurement resulted in construction of a far more expensive structure than the one originally planned.

The chairman of the Office for the Protection of Competition, Petr Rafaj, found that the city had not followed public procurement legislation. It had accepted a substantial change in the scope of the work but failed to ensure competition between potential suppliers.

The bridge that was built was very different from the one originally proposed, both visually and in terms of cost. The original more straightforward proposal was to have cost about US$19m but the bowstring arch that was built cost almost three times as much, Rafaj's department found.